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U. G. BU 2Sheets-8heet 1. Cryptography.

Patented March 8,1881. 1 5917.

ATTORNEYS.

,NFETERS. PHOTO-UTNOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON D c.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

C. G. BURKE.

Cryptography. No. 238,566. Patented March 8,1881.

\lllllll IN VENI'OR 4 WITNESSES:

QKL QAW BY ATTORNEYS.

N, PETERS, FHOTD-UTNOGRA HER, SHmGIoN. D C

Pater FrIcE.

CHARLES G. BURKE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CRYPTOG RAPHY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 238,566, dated March 8,1881. Application filed November 18, 1879 To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, CHARLES G. BURKE, of the city, county, and State of NewYork. have invented a new and Improved Alphabet and System of Writing inUipher, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention consists in the use of four characters, differing in formor color, which, when used in combination with a scale consisting ofthree horizontal parallel equidistant lines and spaces, representintelligible sounds, which are convertibleinto words and sentences, andmay be substituted for and made the equivalent 0f the English language.

The object of my invention is to simplify and facilitate the conveyanceor expression of intelligence in all manners otherwise than by word ofmouth.

The characters used in my system may be of any four different forms orcolors, or may be represented by any four different articles,expressions, sounds, or other means of conveying an intelligibledifference; but the simplest and most readily comprehended charactersare to be preferred. The scale I employ in connection with the fourcharacters I call the sound-scale, because to each of its positions isassigned a certain determined sound. which sound is assumed by that oneof the four characters which may be placed in that position. Thesound-scale has six graduations, corresponding respectively with thesound of the vowels in the English language as ordinarily pronounced.The object of the sound-scale is to render unnecessary the use of anycharacters to represent vowel sounds, it being such a qualification ofthe original character as to render unnecessary any changes in itsform--the positions or graduations of the scale imply their sounds-sothat it is readily seen and understood that a character placed in anyone position on the scale assumes or takes, in addition to its ownsound, the sound that attaches to such position on the scale. or, inother words, assumes a new value while preservin its form unchanged.

My improved system of writing is susceptible of several modes ofpractical application, one of which I will now proceed to describe inconnection with the accompanyingdrawings. Each figure of the drawings,and all the parts of said figure, will be described entire beforeproceeding to another figure.

The colors employed to distinguish the characters are represented in thedrawings as follows: Red is represented by black; blue, by a blackcircle; green, by parallel perpendicular lines, and yellow by parallelhorizontal lines.

Referring to the drawings. in Figure l is represented the vowel or soundscale. It is composed of three parallel lines, B 0 D, two spaces, F G,between said lines, and one space, H, above said lines, which lines andspaces stand for the vowel sounds of the English language in thefollowing order: Line B is a, space F is a, line C is '17, space G is 0,line 1) is a, and space H is y.

In Figure 2 are re 'n'csented three varieties of the characters Iemploy. The first setofcharacters, 1, consistsoftourcircularditlerently-colored tigu res, abc d, which are colored,respectively, red, blue. green, and yellow. Thesecond set of characters,J, consists of one open circle f, a perpendicular stroke, g, aright-oblique stroke, k, and a left-obi iq ue stroke,j. The third set ofcharacters, K, consists of a bird, is, a fish, l, a quadrnped, m, and aplant, at. These several sets of characters are the equivalents of oneanother in the perpendicular order in which they are placed--e. 9., thered character a, theopen circle f, and the bird k, are equivalents-asare likewise the remaining characters in the same order. Relativelytheeharacters may be designated as first, second, third, or fourthplace, as at L; or phonetically by four letters of the Englishalphabet-viz., H G P L-as at M. The sounds of the several characters arethe following: Those of the first or H place have a sound identical withthat produced in the enunciation of the letters ah, as ordinarilypronounced in the English language. Those in the second or G place havethe sound of the English letter G. Those of the third or P place havethe sound of the English P, and those of the fourth or L place have thesound of the English L. The relative positions of the character justdescribed are only adopted for convenience, and are therefore arbitrary;consequently their positions relatively to one another may be changed tothe extent of the combinations that can be made of the four characters.

Fig. 3 represents a key to my improved ICC) system for translating itinto ordinary English language, and also in this figure is shown thecombination of two sets of characters with the sound-scale-viz., first,characters diifering in color, (indicated in said Fig. 3 by the marginalnumber 1;) second, characters differing in form, (marginal number 4.)Number 2 shows the sound of theich aracters in the several positions onthe sound-scale and their pronunciation in the letters of the Englishalphabet. The English alphabet consisting, as it does, of twenty-sixletters, it is necessary, in order to represent their equivalents in myfour characters, to repeat the characters as many times as is necessaryto equal the said twenty-six letters, so that it will be seen that theirrepetition in each position of the sound-scale is indispensable when thewhole alphabet is shown, except in the third space, H, Fig. 1, where thesecond and third place characters(see Fig. 2) only are repeated, andthese represent the sounds gy and py, or their equivalents X and z.Marginal number 3 of Fig. 3 indicates the letters of the Englishalphabet which are the equivalent of the characters indicatedbymarginalnumbers 1 and 4. To convert the character language into the Englishlanguage it is only necessary to remember what letter of the Englishlanguage corresponds with the character-sound used, and by combiningsuch corresponding or equivalent letters together the desired word isformed. By referring to those parts of Fig. 3 opposite marginal numbers1 2 3 it will be seen that the four characters H G P L, independently ofthe sound-scale, represent the first four letters of the Englishalphabet, while the remainder of the alphabet is represented by the samecharacters in different positions on the sound-scale. Thefollowing is anexample of the conversion of the character language into English:Opposite marginal number 9 trated by letters.

the first character-word on theline is gihpi. In the marginal numbers 12 3 we find that the sound gi is the equivalent of in, sound h of a, andpi of n, and these three letters forming the word man, consequentlygihpi is the character-word for man.

In Fig. 3 are also indicated, by marginal numbers 7 8, 11, and 12, twosets of characters combined into words and sentences. Numbers 9 and 13give the pronunciation of the character-words in numbers 7, 8, 11, and12. as illus- Numbers 10 and 14 give the meaning in the Englishlanguage.

It is to be here noted that all the rules applicable to the Englishlanguage are likewise applicable to the character language, and that thesame rules in punctuation are to be observed. The punctuation marks areto be placed in the space above the line D.

I will now describe one mode of practically applying my improved systemof writing and signaling, as above described. First in electrictelegraphing through a galvanometer.

Fig. 4 represents the top of a galvanometer of ordinary construction,but having its dialplate A graduated into three lines, f g h,instead ofthe usual graduation into degrees. These three lines, with the spaces t"j take the place on the dial of the three parallel lines and spaces ofthe sound-scale, (shown in Fig. 4,) and serve as a sound-scale, B, forthe galvanometer. D is a six-pointed indicator, designed to be attachedto the needle (not shown) of the galvanometer. Four of the points of theindicator are colored to correspond to the characters I in Fig. 2. ThusI is red, m is yellow, a is green, and 0 is blue. The said points aremade to turn around the dial by the action of the electric current onthe needle of the galvanometer to which they are designed to be attachedin the usual manner. The movement of the colored pointers L m a 0 to thelines and spaces of the soundscale B are intended to be the same ineffect as placing the colored characters in Fig. 2 in the position whichthe said colored indicators may be made to occupy, and will have thesame signification. Thus if the red pointer, l, is moved to the line fit will indicate the character-sound of a red character, a, Fig. 2, andalso the sound of the first vowel a, giving thus the sound of ha, whichsound represents the English e, (see Fig. 3 5) and so with the othercolored pointers, when moved on the lines and spaces of the soundscale,they each signify the sound appropri ate to its color, as shown by thecharacters I in Fig. 2, the sound of the line or space to which it ismoved on the sound-scale, and the equivalent letter of the Englishalphabet, as shown in Fig. 3.

The colored pointers may be designated by numbers, as 1 2 3 4, or in anyother manner. Other scales may also be placed on the dial, and thecharacter-pointers may be made to indicate any meaning which may beagreed, upon, as they are brought respectively in the difl'erentpositions of the scale.

Numerals may be expressed by the indicators in connection with the scaleB, it being first necessary, however, to exhibit a character that byconsent would signify that numerals were to be expressed. This sign maybe made, for instance, by exhibiting the yellow pointer m in the spaceabove the line It, and the pointers would indicate numerals inconnection with the scale, as follows: red I on line f, a cipher; blue 0on linef, 1; green n on line f, 2; yellow m on linef, 3. On line g redpointer l would signify two ciphers; blue pointer 0, 4; green at, 5;yellow m, 6; red on line h, three ciphers; blue 0 on same line, 7; greena on said line, 8; yellow m on said line, 9; red in space 'i, 10;blue,20; green, 40; yellow, red in space j, blue, 200; green, 400 5yellow, 800. Red above line It in space To would indicate that the useof numerals was concluded. The movements of the pointers are to becontrolled, as is ordinarily done, with galvanometers.

In Fig. 5 the word welcome is shown as written in the three kinds ofcharacters illus- I'IO trated in Fig. 2--the phonetic equivalents H G PL of those characters, the syllables which the characters spell out, andthe letters of the English alphabet corresponding to those syllables.

I am aware that it is not new to communicate ideas by means of a fewcharacters differing in form and position in relation to one or morehorizontal lines, and 1 do not claim this broadly; but,

Having thus described my invention, what I do claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An alphabet consisting of four characters differing in form or color,three horizontal parallel lines, and the spaces between, above, andbelow said lines, the lines and spaces together representing; the vowelsounds and forming the sound-scale, as shown and described.

2. In combination with the alphabet, conuposed as described, the dial A,graduated into the three lines f g h, and the six-pointed indicator D,substantially as shown and described, and for the purpose set forth.

CHARLES G. BURKE.

Witnesses:

WILTON O. DONN, EDGAR TATE.

